Music
March 30, 2023 | 9:23 p.m
Neil Bogart launched some of the biggest musical acts of the ’70s. NY Post photocomposite
Music executive Neil Bogart’s career took off thanks to an extramarital affair.
In the early 1970s, Bogart leaned in to kiss his lover, Joyce Biawitz, and saw a demo titled “Kiss.”
“Kiss—that’s a good name,” Bogart said.
“Are you sure you want to talk business now?” Biawitz, Kiss’s manager, answered.
Shortly thereafter, Bogart signed the band to his fledgling label Casablanca Records based solely on the demo.
“My father signed them unseen – he signed them for the music,” said Bogart’s son, Tim Bogart. “Then he spotted the vision and said, ‘Absolutely — let’s go!'”
This pivotal moment is captured in new biopic Spinning Gold, which hits theaters Friday and will be written and directed by Tim. The film tells the story of how Bogart (played by Jeremy Jordan) went from a young Brooklyn prostitute to a famous music executive who produced some of the biggest talent of the era.
Kiss became the first of several iconic artists – including disco legends Donna Summer and the Village People and funk godfathers Parliament and Cameo – to strike gold with Casablanca Records in the ’70s.
Jeremy Jordan brings legendary music executive Neil Bogart to life in Spinning Gold. Courtesy of the Everett Collection Jeremy Jordan stars as Neil Bogart in Spinning Gold in theaters Friday. Hero Partners/Everett Collection
“Neil was certainly a trendsetter,” said Larry Blackmon, lead singer and founder of Cameo, whose band was signed to record “Find My Way” for the disco-heavy soundtrack to 1978’s Thank God It’s Friday.
Their sound later went funky, with hits like “Word Up!” and “Candy.”
“I have great respect for him. It was a great company to work with. I can’t complain,” Blackmon continued.
Bogart – who was born Neil Bogatz – began using his entrepreneurial spirit as a child growing up in the Glenwood Houses in Brooklyn.
“He started this laundry business when he was 8 years old and was making more money than his father,” said Tim. “He and his group of these 40 little kids would knock on doors, get your laundry, do the laundry, fold the laundry and bring it back.”
Neil Bogart rose from the Brooklyn projects to run Casablanca Records in the ’70s. Tony Korody Neil Bogart and the Queen of His Kingdom, Donna Summer Ochs Archives
He later changed his name to Neil Scott and became a singer with the doo-wop hit “Bobby” in the early ’60s.
He even beat Elvis Presley in a local radio contest hosted by New York DJ Murray the K.
“My dad was the Brooklyn kid, so he got the whole community around him,” said Bogart’s son Evan Bogart, who served as executive music producer on the film. “He literally gave out dimes so people could call and vote for him to beat Elvis … He was out there hustling like the best Brooklynites.”
Bogart eventually did advertising and marketing at MGM Records and Cameo-Parkway Records, where he met a young George Clinton years before he would sign the Speaker of Parliament.
“He was in a doo-wop group [wearing] a three-piece suit — not the George Clinton we know,” Tim said.
Then Bogart became manager at Buddha Records, wooing R&B legends like the Isley Brothers and Gladys Knight & the Pips away from Motown, giving them more creative freedom – and in some cases even their own labels – while signing socially conscious souls took greats Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield during the civil rights movement.
“There’s a lot of business over the phone, so a lot of those early interactions with a lot of artists assumed my dad was black,” Tim said. “They saw the power of the music he was putting out, the power of the artists, and they just assumed he was probably black.”
Ultimately, Bogart really made an impact with Casablanca Records.
But gambling and overspending left him in debt millions of dollars as he struggled to convert Kiss’ live show episode into record sales.
Then, in 1975, he came up with the idea of a Kiss Army—long before Taylor Swift’s Swifties or Beyoncé’s Beyhive—where fans had to buy albums to get exclusive merchandise.
Neil Bogart formed Casablanca Records with Kiss as his first act. Getty Images
Also in the mid-’70s, Bogart signed Donna Summer, who would lead the disco movement. He transformed the queen of his kingdom, who had previously performed as LaDonna Gaines in Germany, into the sexy siren of Love to Love You Baby.
“She grew up in the church — it wasn’t what she wanted to be,” Tim said. “But she’s going along. She becomes incredibly successful, incredibly famous, incredibly rich. So it’s not like she was drawn involuntarily, but that doesn’t rule out the fact that she wasn’t who she was either. And I think she always regretted becoming Donna Summer.”
But Casablanca Records — which Bogart sold to Polygram in 1980 — ultimately suffered from the death of disco.
Bogart, who eventually married Biawitz, died of cancer in 1982. He was only 39.
A revamped version of his label continues today under Republic Records, but it’s not as free-running as Casablanca was under Bogart.
“They broke every rule,” said Tim. “It was absolutely Wild Wild West – I don’t think you could get away with the things they did today socially, morally or even legally.”
Filed under disco donna summer gene simmons george clinton kiss labels musicians paul stanley the 70s the villagers 3/30/23
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